Ron Perelman

"I surrounded myself with a lot of talent -- legal talent, financial talent -- to make sure that everything we did, was and looked and smelled proper and correct." - Ron Perelman

Ron Perelman, now one of the 100 richest men in America, made a name for himself when he bought out Revlon in one of the most publicized hostile takeovers of the 1980s. Over the years he continued to build his reputation and fortune by buying and selling an eclectic collection of companies.

MAGNETISM

Nearing 60 and quite bald, Perelman may be high up on the Forbes 400, but he won't be winning any beauty contests. Still, for a man who's publicly stated he shies away from the press.

Pictures of Perelman invariably show a twinkle in his eye; add that to his tastes in fine wine and his enormous bankroll, and you can see how he might attract the ladies.

For Perelman, it's keeping them that's the problem. He's been divorced a total of three times. He married again, this time to beautiful actress Ellen Barkin, in June 2000. They're not in divorce court yet, so perhaps, for Perelman, the fourth time's the charm.

SUCCESS

Perelman went from managing the family business in Philadelphia to becoming one of the richest corporate raider-investors of the 1980s and '90s. By 1999, his conglomerate, MacAndrews & Forbes, owned over 40 companies, from media outlets to motorboat manufacturers. Although he isn't raking in quite as much money as he was in his heyday, Perelman's financial career has been quite impressive.

Perelman is naturally well-known in the business world. His 1986 takeover of Revlon cemented his reputation as the premier corporate raider in a money-mad era, without being brought down by any of the financial scandals that have followed. While not a household name for those who don't subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, when Perelman makes a move in the markets, the business world still takes notice.

Ron Perelman Biography

Ronald Owen Perelman was born in 1944, and grew up in Philadelphia, where his father owned a sheet-metal manufacturing operation. After earning an MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, he spent the next decade working for his father. In the late 1970s, Perelman decided to move to New York and start his own business.

Perelman bought a jewelry firm, Cohen Hatfield Industries, in 1979, which gave him the leverage to acquire MacAndrews & Forbes, which eventually became his privately-owned conglomerate. Selling off part of the MacAndrews & Forbes business -- which was chocolate -- allowed Perelman to quickly pay off the loans he had taken out in order to make the deal. Another acquisition, Technicolor, soon followed, whose cash flow was multiplied by a factor of 20 while Perelman owned it.

making up money

In 1986, Perelman accomplished one of the most bitterly fought and high-profile takeovers of the decade. The cosmetics giant, Revlon, had been declining since the mid-1970s, and Perelman saw his chance to acquire the company cheaply, relative to its potential. The Revlon board fought him and even took Perelman to court, but in the end, Perelman won control of the company. By 1988, Revlon's operating profits had doubled.

For the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Perelman continued to multiply both cash and corporations. His holding company, MacAndrews & Forbes, folded such seemingly unconnected companies as Marvel Entertainment (comic books and licensing), Coleman Co. (camping equipment), Sunbeam Corp. (appliance manufacturer), and Consolidated Cigar Holdings under its ever-widening wing.

an expensive decade

By the mid-1990s, however, Perelman's fortunes began to change. For example, after the comic book boom of the early 1990s, Marvel, thanks to Perelman's emphasis on character licensing and marketing gimmicks over quality comic books, began to lose money, and eventually declared bankruptcy in 1996. Perelman lost control, the company was restructured, and Marvel went on to its current success without him.

The dot-com boom then took its toll on Perelman, who had stayed away from "new economy" acquisitions. His net worth in 1997 was $6.5 billion US, but with companies like Sunbeam and Revlon losing money, that figure was nearly halved to $3.8 billion in 1999, and is now around $2.6 billion.

Most recently, Perelman had to use more of his own personal fortune to bail out the cash-strapped Revlon, which is nearly $2 billion in debt.

Perelman's personal life has been just as rocky. The father of six children, he has been married four times, and divorced three. His third wife, Patricia Duff, is a socialite and friend of former President Bill Clinton; their divorce in 1996 was particularly bitter and costly. And through this connection, Perelman, a high-profile Democrat, made a rather unfortunate mark on national politics: it was he who helped get Monica Lewinsky her infamous White House internship.

In June 2000, Perelman married actress Ellen Barkin, and the couple continues to live in New York.